[2023] In Alpha since 2013? [MegaThread]

Shouldn’t 7 Days to Die be finished after almost ten years?
Why is it still in Alpha and Early Access, and what does that mean?
If you’ve come to the forum with these or similar questions, this thread is for you. To keep the forum organized, all ongoing discussion of such topics is collected here. New redundant threads will be locked and users referred to this thread, unlike in the past (example 1) (example 2) when they were merged. This thread is pinned due to persistent interest.

Before we all dive in, some background reading to aid discussion:

Reminder: Follow the Rules
Item 1: What Early Access Means
Item 2: How Long Game Development Takes

Reminder: Follow the Rules
Like everywhere else on the forum, users must follow these rules:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6862-8119-C23E-EA7B
https://community.7daystodie.com/topic/5-official-forum-rules-and-guidelines/

The biggest things to avoid are:

Flaming: A healthy discussion can include disagreements and arguments, but there is no place for disrespecting each other with name calling and insults. Challenge someone's point without calling them a child, clown, crybaby, fanboy, hater, idiot, kid, shill, troll, whiner, white knight, etc.

Doom & Gloom: Users can express optimism or pessimism about the future, but doom & gloom is a ‘red line’ users must not cross. Examples include:
Predicting the game will never be finished
Calling the game a scam
Accusing the devs of abandoning or planning to abandon the game

Item 1: What Early Access Means
Early Access means access to uncompleted version(s) of the product: in this case, 7 Days to Die. Please keep Early Access talk directly related to the game. As a reminder and for reference, this is what Steam says.

Originally posted by Early Access info page for End Users: What is Early Access?
Get immediate access to games that are being developed with the community's involvement. These are games that evolve as you play them, as you give feedback, and as the developers update and add content.

We like to think of games and game development as services that grow and evolve with the involvement of customers and the community. There have been a number of prominent titles that have embraced this model of development recently and found a lot of value in the process. We like to support and encourage developers who want to ship early, involve customers, and build lasting relationships that help everyone make better games.

This is the way games should be made.

Originally posted by Early Access documentation page for Developers: What is Early Access?
Steam Early Access enables you to sell your game on Steam while it is still being developed, and provide context to customers that a product should be considered "unfinished." Early Access is a place for games that are in a playable alpha or beta state, are worth the current value of the playable build, and that you plan to continue to develop for release.

Releasing a game in Early Access helps set context for prospective customers and provides them with information about your plans and goals before a "final" release.

If you purchased a game in Early Access, you agreed to purchase it as it existed at the time of purchase. Not for what it might be in the future, or for what it would be when it was officially released:

Originally posted by Early Access info page for End Users: WHEN WILL THESE GAMES RELEASE?
Its up to the developer to determine when they are ready to 'release'. Some developers have a concrete deadline in mind, while others will get a better sense as the development of the game progresses. You should be aware that some teams will be unable to 'finish' their game. So you should only buy an Early Access game if you are excited about playing it in its current state.

Originally posted by Steam Store Page EA Blurb: Early Access Game
Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.
Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development.

This thread is not for discussing whether or not you agree with those terms after the fact. How you feel Early Access should work in general is better suited for Steam’s suggestion board.

References
Early Access info page for End Users
Early Access documentation page for Developers

Item 2: How Long Game Development Takes

• Developing a game from start to finish takes time.
  
• As games have grown in complexity over the years, the average time required has increased.
  
• Comparisons between games are complicated by many factors, including the size of the development team, the scope of the game, and to what extent a game builds on a developer’s previous game.
  
• Unlike 7 Days to Die, many games don’t have any public alpha. They still take years to make, but the public doesn’t know the game exists for the majority of that time, Typically only learning of them once they are announced via releasing an announcement trailer or at a convention such as Nintendo Direct, PAX East/West, or Blizzcon.

[Space reserved.]

Originally posted by Tweed: Comments off under official announcements

Official announcements aren't often meant to be discussion threads and when they are open people often post hoping to interact with the developers since, "Gosh, they were just here so they'll see my comment or question!". This can lead to a lot of disappointment and arguments when no answers come from official sources and instead there are a lot of flame answers given by random followers.

An announcement is just that: an announcement. If you want to talk about it then go to the actual forum threads to discuss. BTW, a far larger proportion of the comments in announcement threads is positive compared to the regular forum discussion threads so stifling negative comments is not the point of keeping an announcement locked as purely an announcement.

forum topics off/merged to (idk hide amount of negative opinions/feedback) this - maybe contact Steam and close whole forum/discussions section? Why bother creating "megathreads".

Merged threads and megathreads don't hide the amount of negative opinions since people (like you just now) can still post to the threads and voice their negative opinions. It does keep the forums organized and clean. People who want to read the negative comments can go to the place where they reside and not have to scroll through duplicate threads created by people who don't check to see if there is already a thread for their topic.

Also, the topic of how long this game has been in development isn't the only topic discussed by a long shot. It is supremely silly to call for the closure of the entire forum just because this one topic has been pinned as a megathread for all such discussion. I've seen this forum organization practice done on many forums so it definitely isn't something out of the ordinary

Btw this is great: "Predicting the game will never be finished Calling the game a scam Accusing the devs of abandoning or planning to abandon the game" - why don't set "better" rule - either you speak positively or dont speak at all.

Libel is not just an illegal activity in many countries but it is also immoral. The simple truth is that the game has not been abandoned nor will it be. Spreading lies that it has been dropped or soon will be by the developers is harmful to their reputation and business and will not be tolerated. You can speak negatively of the game and of how long it has been in development but stating that it will be abandoned or has been abandoned is quite simply a lie for the express purpose of harming the success of the game and its developers.

Once again, you are calling for a complete closure of any kind of critical discussion if you are to be limited in one specific way which is ridiculous.

What you can talk about from a negative slant:
How long the game has been in development
How this game can still maintain the label of "Early Access" or "Alpha"
How the changes in gameplay have been handled over the past decade
What you miss that got cut.
How much longer you speculate it will take to finish
Why such a long development cycle has damaged the game's reception
Bugs that persist after years that you feel make the game unplayable
How other development studios are doing a better job with their early access games and why

What you can't talk about:
The devs will or already have abandoned this game and it will never be completed.

See? There is still plenty to discuss and lots of negativity to be expressed without spreading libelous statements.